‘You know you shouldn’t use that word,’ said Olivia to Marco and Felix.
‘What word?’ said Marco, fighting for breath.
‘Spaz. It’s a bad word. Paul hit someone once who said it.’
‘Who’s Paul?’
‘He’s my brother. He’s the one we’re going to find.’
‘Right.’
‘We had a cousin who was disabled. He was always getting bullied and Paul was always sticking up for him.’
‘He sounds like a nice guy, your brother,’ said Marco kindly.
‘He sounds like a dick,’ Felix murmured under his breath. Marco tried not to laugh. Luckily Olivia hadn’t heard him.
‘He’s brilliant,’ said Olivia. ‘When my mum and dad died he looked after me.’
‘We’ll find him,’ said Marco.
‘The dick,’ Felix added, slightly too loudly, and Marco snorted.
Olivia was about to say something else when Finn spoke for the first time.
Two words.
‘Big Ben.’
‘Nearly there,’ DogNut gasped. ‘Lambeth Bridge is right after the Houses of Parliament.’
But the rising tide was starting to lose its energy and no matter how hard they pulled on the oars it was almost as if they weren’t moving at all. It got harder still as they passed under Westminster Bridge. The water here foamed and churned as it bunched up by the stonework. If they weren’t careful they’d be swept on to one of the supports. Nobody said a word as they strained to keep the boat straight.
At last, nearly an hour after setting off from the Tower, they dragged the boat clear of the swirling, roaring water and emerged into the light at the other side of the bridge.
DogNut felt a surge of relief, but noise and movement made him look up and he saw a row of people craning over to peer at them from the terrace that ran along the back of the Houses of Parliament, overlooking the river.
He had a moment of panic, but was relieved to see that they were all kids. They must have spotted the rowing boat and come out to see what was happening. There wasn’t a sick adult in sight. It gave him hope and renewed strength. He urged the others on. They had planned to row across to the south bank and land at Lambeth pier, but the kids along the embankment were shouting at them and gesturing towards their side of the river.
DogNut looked at Finn. There were still strong currents in the water and they were struggling to control the boat.
‘Maybe we should go closer and see what they want.’
Finn said nothing, just gave a brief nod.
‘Over to you,’ said DogNut. ‘Guide us in.’
Finn nodded again. ‘There’s a set of stairs leading up from the water,’ he said. ‘At the other end of the buildings. Might be a safe landing place.’
‘We could give it a shot.’
Whatever happened, they couldn’t stop rowing. If they did, the current would take over and pull the boat sideways along the river past where they wanted to land. So they kept close to the edge and Finn directed them towards the steps. They could hear the kids shouting down at them from the terrace.
‘Where are you from?’
‘Where did you get the boat?’
‘Who are you?’
He couldn’t make out the rest – they were talking over each other. And DogNut had a question of his own.
‘Are those stairs over there safe?’ he yelled.
‘As far as we know.’
‘They should be.’
‘Haven’t you never used them?’
‘We don’t have any boats.’
‘What do you reckon?’ DogNut asked Finn. ‘Shall we risk it?’
Finn shrugged, squinting ahead and scratching his arm in its grubby sling.
‘No reason why it’s gonna be any more dangerous than the pier on the other side,’ said Courtney. ‘This is as far as we was gonna go. I say if there’s steps here we use them.’
‘We’re gonna try and land at the stairs then,’ DogNut shouted up at the kids on the terrace. ‘Can you give us a hand?’
The kids above started running back into the building and through to the other side, so that by the time the rowing boat had reached the stairs there was a small crowd waiting for them, all shouting directions at the same time in a very unhelpful manner.
The stone steps sloped gently down to the water and although they looked slimy and wet they also looked pretty solid. They must have been used for hundreds of years by boatmen arriving at the parliament buildings.
Finn came alive, shouting instructions to the rowers, but this was the trickiest part. They knew that if they went too close to the edge too early their oars would simply crunch against the embankment wall that rose several metres above them. At some point, though, they were going to have to raise the oars and drift in to meet the stairs. If they overshot it, it would mean trying to row back against the current, which they all felt too tired to even think about.
They heaved at the oars in grim silence, concentrating hard. No one wanted to make a mistake.
DogNut’s arms ached all the way up to his shoulders. They were rigid with tension. He risked looking round. They were only a couple of metres from the stairs. Finn was guiding them in expertly. He allowed himself to relax.
‘Get ready to raise your oars on my side,’ he said, and just then the boat jolted and there was a horrible scraping sound along the bottom. He felt it through his bones. As if something was gouging into his own body.
‘We’ve hit something,’ Olivia screamed.
5
The boat nearly tipped over, and the kids scrambled madly to right it, tangling their oars in their panic. Then it gave another lurch and there was the sound of splintering wood.
‘Crap. Must be a wreck, or something,’ said DogNut. ‘Pray it ain’t done too much damage.’
But even as he said it he knew they were in trouble. Water started to bubble into the bottom of the boat. Then there was another rending crack and a ripping sound and this time they could see a metal spar tearing through the planks at their feet.
The kids in the boat were thrown into chaos, floundering about and yelling at each other. They completely lost control and a couple of them dropped their oars over the sides. Now they were paddling and poling and splashing inelegantly as they struggled to get the sinking boat to the edge.
The skiff rocked madly from side to side and the stern was lower than the front. There was a real danger now that they might not make it to the bank. And if they fell in …
Courtney remembered what had happened to Aleisha when the tourist boat had sunk not far from here. How the water had seemed to reach into the cabin and grab hold of her. How quickly she had been dragged away.
DogNut tried to hold his nerve and not give in to the fear that was causing the others to be totally useless. He needed to try to think straight. He was their captain, after all. He lifted his oar from the water and held it out towards the knot of kids on the steps who were all shouting at the same time.
‘Someone get a hold of this!’ he shouted back at them. ‘Pull us over!’
A big lad wearing a T-shirt with a Coke logo on it managed to get a hand to the oar, then his other hand, and he grunted as he tugged with all his might. A couple of his friends joined in and the boat, weighted down and sluggish with all the water in it, slowly drifted closer to the edge. Marco saw what was happening and was clear-headed enough to offer his own oar to the kids on the stairs. For once Felix didn’t have a go at him; instead he gripped Marco’s oar and the two of them held it hard.
Now the boat moved more quickly and at last bumped against the stonework. Helping hands took hold of the side as DogNut and his crew desperately chucked their soaking-wet belongings ashore. Bags of food and water, backpacks, spare clothing, sleeping bags, blankets, armour and weapons were passed in a chain from the stricken boat and up the stairs to dry land.
Finally, to a chorus of cheers from above, the kids scrambled ashore. DogNut was the last one off, and he ju
mped clear just as the edge of the boat dipped beneath the swirling grey water. It was too heavy now for the kids to hold on to. They let go and it disappeared into the murky depths. They all thought that would be the last they saw of it, but a few seconds later the prow bobbed up and skimmed along the surface like a shark’s fin for a few metres, before it slowly sank and was swept away with all the other debris that was floating on the river.
DogNut swore. Unless they found another boat they would have to walk all the way back to the Tower. It had been going so well. If only he’d stuck to their original plan and gone over to the pier on the other side. He was suddenly filled with a vicious rage.
‘Why didn’t none of you tell me that wreck was there?’ he blurted into some poor kid’s face, spraying him with spit.
‘We didn’t know.’
‘Yeah … well …’
DogNut stopped, deflated. There was no point in taking it out on this lot.
‘Who’s in charge?’ he asked, looking around.
‘I am,’ came a voice from above and he looked up to see a girl with pale skin and a bright flash of flaming red hair leaning over the wall. The sun caught in it and it looked like a golden mane around her head. DogNut smiled. The sight of a pretty girl always lifted his spirits. He bounced up the steps and offered her a high five.
She returned it self-consciously – this was obviously not her style. She stood there slightly unsure of herself, a group of guys standing around her holding clubs. DogNut sucked his teeth, giving the girl the once-over.
‘Pleased to meet you, gyal,’ he said. ‘The name’s DogNut.’
The girl raised her eyebrows, but didn’t smile. She looked very serious.
‘Was my gamer’s tag,’ DogNut explained. ‘And it, like, stuck.’
The girl looked none the wiser.
‘You know what a gamer’s tag is?’ he went on.
‘No. Do I need to?’
‘Not really.’ DogNut laughed. ‘I ain’t played no computer games in ages. So, what’s your name?’
‘Nicola.’
‘Cool.’
Nicola had a posh voice, which only made DogNut fancy her more. He’d always been attracted to posh girls. Although they weren’t always attracted to him. Not wanting to be caught staring at her, he checked out his surroundings. As well as the guys with clubs there were about twenty other kids arranged in a loose circle round DogNut and his crew. They were in a long triangular park surrounded by trees that extended from the end of the Houses of Parliament. The kids had added to the original fence with poles and spikes and barbed wire to keep out intruders, and the lawn had been dug up and planted with vegetables. The planting looked much more professionally done than their efforts back at the Tower.
DogNut spotted the equipment that had been rescued from the boat piled up a few metres away.
‘We better get our gear,’ he said, and made a move towards the pile. Nicola put up her hand, halting him.
‘In a minute.’
Now it was DogNut’s turn to raise his eyebrows.
‘You got a problem?’ he said, keeping it polite for now.
‘You tell me.’
‘I ain’t got a problem.’
Nicola turned to the watching kids.
‘Get back to work,’ she said, and the kids drifted away in ones and twos. Only the ones who were armed stayed with Nicola. They didn’t look very welcoming.
Nicola turned back to DogNut. ‘We need to talk.’
6
‘Do I look like a sicko?’ DogNut threw up his arms in protest. ‘Do I look like a grown-up? A zombie? Whatever you might call them. Do I?’
‘No.’ Nicola held DogNut’s gaze.
‘Well then.’
They were in the middle of the park, DogNut and the other kids from the boat crew surrounded by the boys with clubs. Other boys and girls were busy working at the rows of vegetables: digging, weeding, checking for pests. A few more patrolled the perimeter along the road. They weren’t as well-armed as the guards back at the Tower, and carried an odd assortment of spears, knives and clubs. DogNut was trying to stay cool, and the rest of his crew were angry rather than scared, except for Olivia who was holding on to Finn’s good arm.
DogNut reckoned they might be able to rush the guards, overpower them and get to their weapons. He and Courtney and the Good, the Bad and the Ugly were all tough fighters. But for now he was holding back, waiting to see what was going to unfold here.
‘We have to be very careful,’ Nicola explained. ‘We don’t know who you are –’
‘But –’ DogNut tried to interrupt, but Nicola cut him off.
‘We’re always under attack from other children.’
‘You’re joking me.’
‘I’m deadly serious.’ And she looked it. ‘We don’t know anything about you.’
‘Do we look like an invading army?’ DogNut laughed. ‘There’s only eight of us.’
‘True. But most of the attacks on us are sneak attacks, by small groups. There’s a bunch of kids have set up camp in St James’s Park. They’re not very nice. They’re always sending raiding parties down here, trying to steal from us.’
‘Well, we ain’t from St James’s Park.’
‘Where are you from?’
‘Look,’ said DogNut, ‘you being bare rude here, sister. You need to jam your hype and tell your boydem to stand down. They making me uncomfortable. Then we all just shake hands, sit down somewhere cosy like and have a nice civilized chat. What do you say to that?’
Nicola thought about it for a moment then relaxed.
‘OK,’ she said, nodding to some benches at the edge of the park. ‘Over there.’
Once they were seated DogNut explained who they were and where they were from. Nicola seemed satisfied, but still a little wary.
‘So you’re looking for friends,’ she said when DogNut had finished.
‘You got it.’
‘They came over the bridge well near to here, in the fire,’ said Courtney. ‘That’s why we come up this way. We mainly looking for a girl called Brooke. Blonde hair and a big mouth on her.’
Nicola looked around at the five boys who were still with her. ‘Don’t think we have anyone called Brooke here, do we?’ Her friends shook their heads.
‘When she come over the bridge she was in a big Tesco lorry,’ said DogNut. ‘With a load of other kids.’
‘I remember the lorry,’ said a tall boy with a wispy growth on his top lip that wasn’t quite a moustache. He was missing his front teeth and wore his hair in a ponytail. ‘I came over Lambeth Bridge at the same time.’
‘What happened to it?’ DogNut asked.
The boy shrugged. ‘It didn’t stop. Far as I remember, it just kept on going.’
‘And none of you know where it went? What happened to the kids on board?’
‘What about Paul?’ Olivia chipped in. ‘My brother? Paul Channing? He wasn’t on the lorry. He might have come here? We’re not only looking for Brooke.’
Suddenly the boat crew were all talking at once. Asking after friends, relatives.
Nicola held out her hands and had to almost shout to be heard.
‘OK, listen,’ she said. ‘We’ll call a session of parliament.’
‘You’ll do what?’ said DogNut, taken aback.
‘Parliament,’ said Nicola matter-of-factly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
DogNut didn’t know whether to laugh, but chose not to. Nicola had such a serious expression on her face.
‘That’s how we run things here,’ she said. ‘We vote on everything. If we call a session, everyone has to attend and we can ask if anyone knows anything about your friends.’
‘You vote on everything?’ said DogNut.
‘Yes.’
‘So they voted you in charge then?’
‘Yes,’ said Nicola. ‘I won the vote. They made me prime minister.’
Now DogNut couldn’t stop himself from laughing. It sounded too much like
a game, or a school project. But Nicola looked more serious than ever and DogNut’s laughter died away.
‘I know it sounds a bit silly,’ she said, and at last she did smile. ‘But we have to start setting up some sort of order in the world. There are lots of children here and they need things to be normal; they need to have some kind of structure in their lives.’
How quickly they’d had to grow up, DogNut thought. It was a simple choice, behave like adults, or die like babies.
‘True dat,’ he said. ‘Just like Jordan Hordern is big man at the Tower. He’s a general, though – he ain’t no prime minister.’
‘Doesn’t matter what we’re called,’ said Nicola. ‘But it made sense, as we were all living here, to set up an old-style government.’
‘So why are you living here then?’
‘It’s safe,’ said the boy with the ponytail. ‘The Houses of Parliament is one of the most secure places in the country.’
‘Guess so,’ said DogNut.
‘It’s too big for us, really,’ Nicola added. ‘But more children arrive all the time.’
‘A lot of us were already here when the fire broke out last year,’ said Ponytail. ‘And then hundreds more kids poured across the bridges. Some of them stopped here.’
‘But not Brooke?’ Courtney asked.
‘Sorry,’ said Ponytail. ‘Don’t think so.’
‘As I say,’ said Nicola, standing up, ‘we’ll call a session. You make up a list of names of the people you’re looking for. There are nearly a hundred of us here – someone might know something.’
7
An hour later and all the kids were assembled on the rows of red leather benches in the House of Lords. It was gloomy and cold, despite the light streaming in through the high stained-glass windows that ran down either side of the hall.
‘Fancy,’ said Courtney as she sat down next to DogNut and looked around at the carved wood panelling that covered the walls, the gold leaf, the chandeliers, the oil paintings.
‘It looks like a film or something,’ said DogNut. ‘At least they ain’t wearing any fancy robes and wigs.’
The boat crew had been given their gear back, but Nicola had insisted she keep hold of their weapons and armour until they were ready to leave.
The Fear Page 4
